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Allen & Overy to Open D.C. Office with Three O'Melveny Hires

Posted by Drew Combs

Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy announced Wednesday that it will be opening an office in Washington, D.C., with three attorneys from O'Melveny & Myers.

Barbara Stettner, Chris Salter, and Charles Borden will join the firm as partners in mid-July when the new office opens. Stettner and Salter were partners at O'Melveny; Borden was counsel at the firm. Both Stettner and Salter advise financial service industry clients on regulatory and compliance matters. They also previously worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Borden practiced in O'Melveny's political law and strategic counseling group.

Kevin O'Shea, U.S. managing partner for Allen & Overy, said the firm's goal, "...is to have a global regulatory group that is deep," according to the National Law Journal, a sibling publication. He added that Allen & Overy plans to grow the office to ten partners by the end of the year.

The moves are the latest in a string of departures from O'Melveny. Last month, as previously reported, nine partners, including the cochair of O'Melveny's corporate finance/capital markets practice and the head of the firm's tax practice, left the New York office, reducing the firm's corporate capabilities. Seven of the departing partners joined Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, while the other two joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

In early June, O'Melveny announced the promotion of four transactional partners to firm leadership roles. Those promoted included Silicon Valley-based partner Steven Tonsfeldt, who now leads the firm's M&A practice. At that time, the firm said the new leaders, "...are able to reach across our different offices and practice to build growth firmwide."